1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a self-propelled printing apparatus, a printing system, and a printing method and in particular, to a self-propelled printing apparatus that moves on an object to be printed to perform printing on the object to be printed, a printing system including the self-propelled printing apparatus, a printing method using the self-propelled printing apparatus, and a printing program for using the self-propelled printing apparatus.
2. Background Art
In the related art, when printing data such as images or text, a stationary printing apparatus is generally used. On the other hand, in response to a desire to perform printing outside, a portable printing apparatus that is designed compact and lightweight so as to be able to be carried has also been developed.
As an example of such a portable printing apparatus, the invention disclosed in JP-A-2007-129783 may be mentioned. The invention disclosed in JP-A-2007-129783 is to set printing paper having a specified size in a printing apparatus and perform printing continuously on the printing paper.
Therefore, since a width of the extent to which at least printing paper can be inserted is required in such a printing apparatus, there has been a limitation in miniaturization.
On the other hand, the invention disclosed in JP-T-2005-517553 is to perform printing on printing paper while moving the printing apparatus itself with respect to the printing paper. Such a printing apparatus can perform printing on printing paper of any size.
In the invention disclosed in JP-T-2005-517553, however, since the movement of the printing apparatus and printing on printing paper are performed simultaneously and continuously, the accuracy of printing could not be expected. In addition, the apparatus does not recognize which portion of the object is being printed, printing data fixed in advance is used as it is, and positioning is left to human hands and the apparatus expects that it would be accurate. For this reason, the result was inaccurate and the printing quality was low.
Therefore, a portable printing apparatus that is designed compact and lightweight and can also perform printing without degrading the quality, such as the accuracy of printing, has been in demand.